The Wild West (Or, the old frontier)
2019-01-06 10:30pm

This is largely a response to Moji.

Moji recently wrote on their phlog[1] about self-hosting and sus-
tainability (as well as squatting;  a very interesting topic that
I will mostly ignore here).  I was quoted discussing how spaces &
communities grow and die.  I definitely agree that this idea is a
core part of freedom. The ability for things to come and go as is
fitting and makes sense for them is vital. Things like copyright,
digital dynatsties (inherent in large corporations like Microsoft
Google and the like), and governments specifically remove freedom
by making things last, by stablizing.  To be free is naturally to
be unstable.  It  is  better for things to rise for a time and do
their thing, until it no longer makes sense, or works in the best
interest of the people involved...  I hope that the patterns that
we have seen in the past will repeat themselves soon   (there was
once a time where it would have been  unthinkable to suggest that
AOL would not be king of the web,  that Lycos  would  be no more,
etc).

I think that when the  idea of financial gain can be removed from
the equation,  fellowship can more easily flourish.  We have seen
that here on this server, I think. Lots of us, as Moji notes, add
homebuilt tools to the server(s).  I  LOVE  these tools and would
not trade them for  large all consuming pieces of software as you
can find on the web or more commercial systems. I have long beli-
eved that the best art was art that was  quirky and showed both a
bit of the author as well as a bit of humanity (flaws and imagin-
ation working together to build something cool).

I think we have found the new west, as this phlog title suggests.
A new frontier in a previously well explored place.   Freedom can
live here and creativity and community can flourish. I dont  know
for how long... but I think it may be here to stay for awhile, as
gopher and ssh are naturally  resistant to  commercialization and
corporate interest. :)

Re: Programming, which Moji brings up at the end of their update:
My advise, not that you asked,  is to skip videos,  how tos,  and
"learning projects" (I'm looking at you: to-do-list website). In-
stead,  pick something you use  a lot or need and write a version
of it. While finding something that needs a solution is ideal, it
is also ok to reinvent the wheel in your own way.  You will learn
a lot and likely have a lot of fun doing it.  I  am  writing this
phlog update in my own text editor while refering to the aforeme-
ntioned phlog post in a gopher client I wrote[2]. I learned a lot
from both and I use them each daily.  I mostly just used language
docs to patch the holes in my knowledge and make each happen.   I
also, of course, did occasionally query stack overflow.  In   any 
case, I am sure any of us in the Circumlunarverse that code would
be happy to help with anything if you have questions or need some
advice. Reach out via system e-mail, telem, fellowsh, or chat. :)

------

My boss recommended a book to me after I told him about my exper-
iences with gopher and this community  (I think he is considering
setting up a phlog).  It is an older book  (early 00s)  about the
loss of the freedom culture of the early internet and the some of
the spaces that may keep it alive (creative commons are discussed
quite a bit). I am just a little ways into it,  but it definitely
still seems relevant. It is available online[3] for free if  yall
are interested.

[1] gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/0/~moji/phlog/20190601-sketch2.txt
[2] https://tildegit.org/sloum/burrow
[3] http://www.the-future-of-ideas.com/download/lessig_FOI.pdf

PS
My command line gopher client[4] has hit a really solid point.  I
added tabbed browsing this morning and restructured the code. Ill
post a link soon and possibly make it  available on the server if 
there is any interest.

[4] https://tildegit.org/sloum/stubb